Come join the Mumsnet cookery bookclub! Each month we choose two cookery books - one popular, like Nigella / Jamie / Delia, so you probably already have it / can borrow it and one a bit more unusual. We cook a minimum of two recipes each - you choose the recipe, they just have to be ones you have never cooked before- which works out at four new recipes each month.Then we chat about them!

We will always try to pick at least one book with recipes available on the Internet, and local libraries are great for cookbooks if you can order in advance. We pick books three months ahead so will be choosing August's books this month.

I love reading these threads, and as a result have bought Every Grain of Rice, Plenty and Short and Sweet. I am hopelessly out of sync with the months, but it has inspired me to cook more from the books I love reading!

So from JO I have done the Piri Piri chicken (for friends) - went down amazingly well. I used 2 green chillies instead of 2 bird's eye chilles, and it was warm but not overwhelmingly spicy. The potatoes were gorgeous & I did the frangipane tart instead. It is simply the easiest, most lovely pudding I have ever made. A big success

Have also tried Jule's pregnant pasta - DH & I liked it but the DC didn't like the fennel seeds. The chicken pie went well, and I did the satay chicken & noodles just for DH & I and really enjoyed it.

The rib eye steak with Dan Dan noodles was delicious, but was basically a deconstructed stir fry.

Overall I really liked 30 minute meals- I don't rush and find the recipes still work with a bit of common sense

I realise it's August, but I had a Thomasina Miers blitz at the weekend and made

Chipotles en adobo (now in a jar in my fridge)Roast tomato salsa (hint - if you dry-fry a whole chilli the skin will split with a BANG)Guacamole to her recipe (very coriander-y, I think I prefer it my way)Spicy bird tacos (nice but oddly sweet-tasting)

and tonight I am making the bacon bean and pumpkin stew thingy, although I decided that pumpkin can be replaced with butternut squash, and butternut squash can be replaced with sweet potato, so it's actually a bacon, bean, and sweet potato stew, with the green rice.

Slightly cheeky But I have a LOT of old cookery books, sold some on amazon but the rest are in boxes. If anyone has a particular request for anything I am happy to send anything for postage (as they are just sat here)

I know its very late, but as I've finally finished cooking from Jamie, I thought I should add my comments onto the thread. I've returned the book to the library this week (having renewed it twice), and although I won't be buying it because there are plenty of things I find irritating about it, I have copied many of the recipes.

All in all, I've made the following:- Asparagus lasagne with tomato salad and frozen mango yogurt. I don't think I'll make the lasagne again, but I've already made the tomato salad several times and I've noted the frozen yogurt recipe as I'd like to try it with other fruits. I did this against the clock, and it took a whole lot longer than 30 minutes!

- Steak sarnie (with non of the extras), delicious and one I'll be trying again, perfect for Friday night tea with DH.

- Chicken satay with all the trimmings (no pudding though). Another one I'd like to do again, it was about on the limit of what I can take chilli-wise, but had enough other flavours to get me through it.

- Smoked salmon, beetroot with cottage cheese and potato salad (but no rye bread or homemade butter). Another one I loved, and has convinced to try beetroot more often.

- Chocolate mousse - yum.

- Chocolate ganache - yum.

- The chocolate brownies were the only disappointment, too cake-like and gooey enough. But with custard made a fine pudding.

- And I've copied the beef hash to try, when the weather is appropriate!

Did Jamie's tray bake fish, which was delicious. Easy too, although I had to turn the fish fillets to cook them in the prescribed time. I didn't bother with the banoffee pie but I loved the salsa verde and the fish, yum.

I haven't tried the chilli yet, we do a HB one as a staple. Shall give it a go next time. Yes to accompaniments, like lots of sour cream, coriander and the lime nachos Doritos do. I don't bother with rice any more for chilli as we have it so often with other stuff.Shall be doing the refried beans again for sure, well worth the effort involved.

Of sure anyone is looking at this anymore, but I feel I should report that I did TM enchiladas last night (not for the first time, but such an easy dinner if you have roasted tomato sauce in the freezer as I often do). I added mushrooms to the mix as I didn't have much spinach, and used creme fraiche instead of sour cream, and it was still very good.

Mmm did the cooking black beans and refried beans yesterday- finally. The cooking beans were lovely, though I though I felt a lot of work- this feeling was quashed when I refried them- such depth of flavour and beautifully spiced. We loved them, had them with hfw flatbreads, with red onion, extra coriander and chilli garnishes. Lovely.

I haven't managed much in June (mostly due to DIY), but I did make the JO spinach and feta filo pie yesterday, which was nice. I think making it in the frying pan and cooking on a v low heat for 10 mins (induction v low, if I was doing it on my old gas hob, I would prob do 5-7 mins), but my frying pan was a bit awkward and only just fitted in the oven handle to the back (glad I thought to try it before the oven was hot!) I did roasted new potatoes with it too though, and it says serves 4-6 but 4 adults and 2 smalls had it for lunch and I'm glad we also had the potatoes. We had it with the tomato and cucumber salads from the book - cucumber salad was OK (and I like balsamic, so possibly didn't put enough oil in). Tomato salad was nice, but a bit of a faff for me as my big blender doesn't do well at all with small quantities, but there was a bit too much for my tiny wet and dry grinder which did it, but leaked a bit. Vivid green dressing, but very nice (only used garlic sparingly though as raw).And that reminded me of my other issue with JO in general - although I'm much better than I used to be - I'm not always good with recipes that tell you to add a 'glug'. I feel that a glug is a very subjective measure indeed!However, I have liked some of the recipes from JO, and still have more that I will get round to doing and we will be having the Asian salmon with noodle broth again tomorrow night, do try that if you haven't already

Sorry TM but not impressed with the scratchings, a lot of faff for them to turn out the same as if I'd just roasted them at high temperature from the start. I followed the timings to the letter when cooking but they didn't swell up as expected. On the plus side, the brine smelt lovely and the scratching had little fat so not too much of a guilty pleasure.

pregnant I reckon no olives for the mole would be fine as they are more of a punchy garnish than an integral flavour iykwim (also it's a pain to get just 50g of olives, if I remember rightly!) But I think adding the chipotle early on night make the difference. Perhaps that's why your flavours have developed to the full today? I am so glad you like it by the way!